The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce systems and, more particularly, to a Web-based system for facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers.
Retail sales of goods and services are typically made using traditional direct or mass marketing schemes in which a seller advertises products and services to a large audience with the hope of making sales to a small number of buyers in the audience. These schemes are seller-driven in the sense that the seller controls the process of pairing buyers with the seller. For instance, the seller sets a price and decides how and where to advertise. The buyer studies the advertising he receives and decides whether or not to make a purchase. This type of marketing scheme is generally a costly and inefficient way of bringing about a transaction between buyers and sellers since typically only a very small percentage of the audience responds to the mass advertising.
When a buyer is in the market for a particular product or service, effort is typically required on his or her part to find a suitable seller of the desired product or service. For example, an individual seeking television repair services might search through available advertising material to identify television repair shops and then contact the shops to find one that can do the work required at the lowest cost. Because of the effort involved, the buyer is ordinarily deterred from contacting a large number of television repair shops since at some point the benefits from doing so (e.g., finding the best price for the desired work) would be outweighed by the amount of time and money expended in the search effort. Consequently, purchase decisions are ordinarily made after contacting very few sellers.
A buyer-driven system of commerce is a less traditional system in which the buyer advertises his needs and invites responses from sellers (e.g., a xe2x80x9cwanted to buyxe2x80x9d classified advertisement). Buyer-driven systems have certain advantages over seller-driven systems. In particular, a buyer-driven system allows buyers to more easily reach a large number of sellers, many of who might not have the resources to advertise extensively.
Traditional buyer-driven systems however have certain drawbacks. For instance, buyers often end up being inundated with too many offers from potential sellers, many of whom may be unqualified. Also, the buyer typically has to reveal a telephone number or other personal contact information in order to allow sellers to quickly and easily reach him. Consequently, buyers may end up receiving many intrusive and unwanted telephone calls from sellers. In addition, in traditional buyer-driven systems, buyers bear the cost of advertising their needs (e.g., the cost of classified advertisements), which reduces the use of such systems.
A need exists for an improved buyer-driven system of commerce not having the drawbacks described above. In particular, a need exists for a buyer-driven system that allows buyers to be connected with qualified sellers easily, efficiently and inexpensively.
Another aspect of buyer-driven commerce systems is qualification of the buyer as a ripe lead or prospect. In traditional seller-driven systems, the seller attempts to initially qualify buyers through very broad means, such as by using demographic information to target direct mail campaigns. In brokered commerce, such as real estate or securities sales, a broker serves as a qualifying agent for both the buyer and the seller. However, brokers are only available in those market segments where the transaction value is high enough to support the use of a third party, who typically is compensated through a fee based on the transaction value. Clearly, a buyer-driven commerce system that facilitates the qualification of buyers in the way a broker might would be advantageous in market segments that might not typically support brokers.
One object of the present invention is to provide a buyer-driven system for inexpensively and efficiently connecting buyers of particular products or services with sellers of such products or services.
Another object of the invention is to provide a buyer-driven system for connecting buyers and sellers that inhibits responses from unqualified sellers.
Another object of the invention is to provide a buyer-driven system for connecting buyers and sellers that efficiently allows buyers to qualify themselves to sellers and allows sellers to efficiently find qualified buyers.
A further object of the invention is to provide a buyer-driven system of commerce that enables buyers to control whether and how personal information on the buyer is revealed to a given seller.
These and other objects are achieved by an inventive Web-based buyer-driven system that efficiently and inexpensively connects buyers and sellers. In general, the system includes a Web site globally accessible by potential buyers and sellers. Potential buyers post descriptions of products and services they desire on the Web site, along with any personal information (typically other than contact information) that may better qualify their wants to the sellers. Interested sellers of those products and services can access the descriptions posted by the buyers and selectively post responses to buyers. The responses preferably include information identifying the seller and describing the product or service offered by the seller. The system determines if the potential buyer retrieves a response directed to him from a potential seller and, if so, it charges that potential seller a small fee.
One advantage of the inventive system is that it allows buyers to find qualified sellers with little effort and at no cost.
Another advantage of the invention is that it allows sellers to efficiently identify qualified buyers without use of costly mass marketing schemes.
Yet another advantage of the system is that it gives the buyer control over whether and how personal information is revealed to sellers. In particular, the system allows buyer listings to be posted anonymously, and the buyer can progressively reveal personal information such as demographic information or contact information to any given seller as desired.
An additional advantage of the inventive system is that it keeps the buyer from being inundated with large numbers of unwanted offers from unqualified sellers due to the economic barrier imposed by the fee charged the seller for his response to the buyer.
A further advantage is that buyer listings are globally accessible to all potential sellers and not limited to a few selected sellers.
Another advantage of the system is that once the seller has been charged with a fee, buyers and sellers are free to communicate within or outside of the system as they choose. For example, the buyer may decide not to reveal contact information to the seller and instead communicate within the system, maintaining anonymity. At the point where the buyer decides to proceed further with the transaction, the buyer can reveal contact information to the seller and the transaction can proceed outside the system.
Another advantage of the system is that the buyer may decide to block further communication with the seller prior to revealing contact information.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description wherein embodiments of the invention are shown and described by way of illustration of the best mode of the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details may be capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not in a restrictive or limiting sense with the scope of the application being indicated in the claims.